Brady Hoke and Michigan are still in the conversation for five-star running back Jacques Patrick, per a report. Patrick Record | MLive.com

Michigan took some of the pressure off itself in its hunt for an elite running back in the 2015 class when it scored USC transfer running back Ty Isaac earlier this summer.

Isaac, who is still waiting to hear on the status of his hardship waiver request, has three more years to play -- beginning either in 2014 or 2015. Either way, when he arrives, he'll give Michigan a trio of talented backs along with Derrick Green and De'Veon Smith.

The next wave, though, is still important.

Michigan still will need to take at least one running back (perhaps even two) in the 2015 class to help balance out the age of the roster.

At one point, the Wolverines appeared set when five-star back Damien Harris pledged to Brady Hoke and company last summer. Harris decommitted this winter and the Wolverines have started to check out other backfield options.

One of those options is five-star back Jacques Patrick, who is ranked as the No. 2 back in the class -- just behind Harris -- by Rivals.com.

In a recent interview with Rivals, Patrick singled out a handful of schools that still hold his interest.

Michigan isn't in the lead at the moment -- that'd be Alabama and Florida State -- but the Wolverines are, apparently, in the conversation.

"I had a real good time when I went to Michigan," Patrick told Rivals. "Same with Notre Dame. They've both been recruiting me for a long time and I've got interest in them. A&M came on later, but with the recruiting class they're building it's kind of hard not to give them a look."

Patrick, a 6-foot-1, 214-pound Orlando, Fla. product, took a trip to Ann Arbor earlier this summer while in town for the Detroit edition of the Sound Mind, Sound Body camp.

At this point, outside of current leaders Alabama and Florida State, Patrick says he's still interested in Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Texas A&M.

He told Rivals he wants to trim his list to five by the end of the summer before making his ultimate decision on Oct. 27.